It’s your busy Moderator here. Sorry I’ve been out of touch. Between a new job, real life (in general), and working on new music, it’s been hard to give time to the Hall that I’d like to give. For now, here’s an offering.
Nov 022020
Oct 282020
It’s time for another installment of Name That Tune! Has it really only been 7 years since we last played this?
To refresh your memory on how to play, I have taken lyrics from a well known song and run it through Google translate going from English to Greek, to Norwegian, to Latin, to German, to Thai, to Russian, to Icelandic and then back to English.
All you have to do is identify the song.
“In the dark cold wind
In your hair
Served hot In paradise
Previously in the background
He saw a flashing light.
This is a picture in my head and the thorn is so dark!
Now even at night”
The genre is classic rock.
I will provide additional clues if requested.
Feel free to stump us with re-translated lyrics of your own.
Oct 222020
Is it time for an All-Star Jam?
This video could be one of those “list all the things wrong with this video” and it surely would break the record for thread with the most posts. And it would also determine which Townsman has the most fortitude to make it through 54 minutes of this; I had to bail after about 4 minutes. For a band known for vocals and harmonies, none of them can carry a tune here and harmonies are non-existent.
Hard to understand why Mike Love‘s look never caught on.
Please fellow denizens of Rock Town Hall, what are you listening to that can wipe this memory from my mind?
Oct 152020
Who belongs on the Mount Rushmore of New Wave?
Wow, there’s a broad category, huh?
And I’m not going to try to define it or narrow it down; that’s up to Rock Town Hall.
Whatever the definition, I say Talking Heads has to be there. Three-piece, four-piece, expanded funk version, it doesn’t matter. The fact that they were so good in all those incarnations is one of the reasons they belong on the Mount. I’ll leave it to the other better musical explicators on the list to explain just how good, just how innovative, and just how timeless (40+ years later we now know that) they are.
Frantz/Weymouth-type complaints aside, what criticisms can you level against them, unless you want to hold then to account for the pale white-boy funk imitators that followed in their wake?
Who else shares the Mount with them?
Oct 152020
Friends,
Previously, we discussed which band reduced rock ‘n’ roll to its cliched essence. Now, I ask you to confirm to me that the above song represents “classic rock” at its most depressingly pro forma. It starts out sorta “mellow” and reflective before transitioning to a “rockin'” outro. (A reverse-“Layla”?) A perfect simulacrum of passion, good times, summer vibes, etc. with as little thought given to the lyrics as humanly possible. But then I think of some hesher tooling around in his Trans Am rocking out to this, and I can’t help but smile. Even if I’m fairly sure that scenario simply never happens anymore
I look forward to your responses.
Oct 072020
Oct 072020
As a young punk, when they emerged on the scene, I was never a fan of Van Halen. I thought Eddie Van Halen was a particularly evil force in terms of the downward spiral of popular aesthetics. Over time, however, I came to appreciate the band Van Halen, for their craftsmanship, for David Lee Roth’s comic swagger, and for the song “Jump,” the one Van Halen hit that barely features Eddie’s guitar wankery.
That said, I was sadder than I could have imagined when I saw the news that Eddie Van Halen died last night, at 65. He was a fierce adversary in my imagination. To be the best, we’ve got to beat the best. He was among the best in his field of practice, and I respect – and now miss – that.
